CAT 2018: Analysis of Analysis

Now that the Common Admission Test (CAT) 2018 is over, the first think which every aspirant search for is the analysis of the whole exam done by experts of various leading MBA preparation institutes of the country. CAT analysis is done every year by these institutes to present the clear picture of difficulty level of CAT to the aspirants who want to know what are there chances to land a certain percentile and get admission in their dream B-School

Career2NextOrbit brings to you the comprehensive list of CAT 2018 Analysis done by various renowned CAT preparation institutes including T.I.M.E, Career Launcher, IMS and Bullseye. The analysis is done by different experts in these institutes but as we know these analysis may differ in some context. Thus we are here providing you the list of all these analysis to get a better idea of difficulty level of CAT 2018 and predict their percentile accordingly.

a) First Slot Analysis

Let's take an look at Overall analysis of the morning slot done by these institutes -:

Section

No. of Questions

No. of Non MCQ Questions

T.I.M.E.

Career Launcher

IMS

Bullseye

Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension

34

7

Moderate (Good Attempts = 26 to 28)

Easy (Good Attempts = 28+)

Easy to Moderate (Good Attempts = 28 to 30)

Easy to Moderate

Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning

32

8

Difficult (Good Attempts = 12 to 14)

Moderate (Good Attempts = 16+)

Easy to Moderate (Good Attempts = 18 to 20)

Easy to Moderate

Quantitative Ability

34

12

Moderate (Good Attempts = 18 to 20)

Difficult (Good Attempts = 15+)

Moderate (Good Attempts = 19 to 21)

Difficult

Total

100

27

T.I.M.E. : The experts from T.I.M.E. analyzed the morning slot of CAT 2018 to be a mixed bag. It didn't throw any major surprises, while there were some changes, within the sections, like the number of lengthy questions in QA were more this year. Nonetheless, it was not an easy task for any of the test takers to increase the number of attempts beyond a certain level. Mainly because any further move beyond it was barricaded by the difficulty level of questions that were present aplenty across. With many tricky questions in all sections and the increased difficulty in QA would definitely result in dip in the cutoffs this year , compared to CAT 2017.

Career Launcher:According to CL experts, an overall attempt of 18-20 questions with 85% accuracy can fetch very good marks. The cutoff for99 percentile score will reduce by around 15-18 marks as compared to last year. Therefore, a score of 150-155 could fetch a 99 percentile. The VARC section at the staring of the paper was easier than 2017. While LRDI section was rated as moderately difficult breaking the trend of LRDI of CAT in last three years. QA section came out most difficult as was expected from IIM-C kept, with major emphasis on the QA section.

IMS: Experts from IMS stated that the first slot of CAT 2018 is more or less similar to last year with no major surprises. We didn't see any new type of questions and the overall pattern remained the same as it was in CAT 2017. For a good percentile, an overall attempt of 68-70 questions with an accuracy of 85 percent should be quite sufficient in this test.

Bullseye: While Bullseye opined that CAT 2018 did come up with a few surprises. The Quantitative Aptitude section was found to be toughest in both the slots. They found mixed reviews for LRDI section wherein the questions of Slot 1 LRDI were comparatively easy than that in slot 2 having higher difficulty level. Verbal was rated as easy to moderate for both the slots.

Now we dig into the Section-wise analysis -:

Topic

No. of Q

T.I.M.E.

CL

IMS

Bullseye

Verbal
Ability

5 passages

24

Moderate

20-21 Doable

Easy to Medium

Easy

Para-Formation

4

Easy-Moderate

All 4 Doable

2 Medium 2 Easy

Easy to Moderate

Para Odd Man Out

3

Moderate

Only 1 Doable

2 Medium 1 Easy

Easy to Moderate

Summary

3

Moderate-Difficult

Incomplete

1 Easy 1 Medium 1 Difficult

Easy

LRDI

N*N Matrix

4

Moderate

2-3 Doable

Easy

Moderate

ATM Machine

4

Moderate+

1-2 Doable

Difficult

Moderate

Pie-Chart

4

Easy

All 4 Doable

Easy

Easy

Satellites

4

Difficult

1-2 Doable

Difficult

Easy to Moderate

Committee

4

Moderate+

2-3 Doable

Easy

Difficult

Pipes

4

Moderate

2-3 Doable

Easy to Moderate

Easy to Moderate

Institutes

4

Difficult

1-2 Doable

Easy

Difficult

Exam ( diff sections )

4

Difficult

1-2 Doable

Easy to Moderate

Easy to Moderate

Quantitative
Aptitude

Geometry &
Mensuration

7

Moderate

3-4 Doable

Moderate to Difficult

Difficult

Numbers

2

Moderate+

2 Doable

Moderate

Moderate

Arithmetic

15

Moderate

6-7 Doable

Easy to Moderate

Difficult

Algebra

7

Moderate+

4-5 Doable

Easy to Moderate

Difficult

P&C/venn
diagrams

3

Moderate

2 Doable

Moderate

Moderate

b) Second Slot Analysis

Let's take an look at Overall analysis of the evening slot done by these institutes -:

Section

No. of Questions

No. of Non MCQ Questions

T.I.M.E.

Career Launcher

IMS

Bullseye

Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension

34

7

Moderate (Good Attempts = 23)

Easy (Good Attempts = 28+)

Easy (Good Attempts = 22+)

Easy to Moderate

Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning

32

8

Difficult (Good Attempts = 12)

Moderate (Good Attempts = 16+)

Easy to Moderate (Good Attempts = 18 to 20)

Moderate

Quantitative Ability

34

12

Moderate to Difficult (Good Attempts = 12)

Difficult (Good Attempts = 15+)

Difficult (Good Attempts = 18 to 20)

Difficult

Total

100

27

T.I.M.E. : Then the experts from T.I.M.E. analyzed second slot of CAT 2018 which also didn't bring any major surprise when compared to CAT 2017. However, if we look at overall difficulty level, it turned out to be slightly more tricky than the morning slot. The VARC section remained more or less at the same difficulty level as that was seen in morning slot, but the rise in the difficulty level was largely due to the time taking questions of QA section and comparatively tougher LRDI section.

Career Launcher: For Slot 2 also, CL experts stated that an overall attempt of 18-20 with 85% accuracy would definitely fetch you a good percentile. For 99 percentile, the overall score could reduce by around 15-18 marks compared to the last year's cutoff. Thus, a score of 150-155 is needed to get 99 percentile. Slot 2 also started with an easy VARC section. The passages were not difficult same as the first slot. Mixed reviews for LRDI section being rated easy to moderate. QA remained the toughest section in the second slot also. Overall, it was of moderate level of difficulty.

IMS: The second slot of CAT 2018 is reported to be more or less similar to the morning slot of CAT 2018 (with the exception of the QA section where there was a marginal difference in the difficulty level of the QA section in both slots ) and the CAT of last year without surprises. No new type of questions were seen in any of the sections. An overall attempt of 66-68 questions with an accuracy of 85 percent should be classified as a good performance in this test.

Bullseye: CAT 2018 did spring a few surprises. While the Quant section was found to be tough in both slots, DILR had a mixed review wherein Slot 1 reported it to be comparatively easy but slot 2 reported higher difficulty level. Verbal was moderate for both slots.

Now we dig into the Section-wise analysis -:

Topic

No. of Q

T.I.M.E.

CL

IMS

Bullseye

Verbal
Ability

5 passages

24

Moderate

20-21 Doable

Easy to Medium

Easy

Para-Formation

4

Moderate

All 4 Doable

Easy

Easy to Moderate

Para Odd Man Out

3

Moderate

Difficult

Easy

Easy to Moderate

Para Summary

3

Moderate

Difficult

Easy to Medium

Easy

Data
Interpretation

Square chart

4

Difficult

1-2 Doable

Easy

Moderate

Profitability and Market share

4

Moderate

All 4 Doable

Easy

Moderate

Currency conversion

4

Difficult

2-3 Doable

Moderate

Moderate

B-School grading

4

Difficult

1-2 Doable

Difficult

Difficult

Logical
Reasoning

Coding - Decoding

4

Difficult

2-3 Doable

Difficult

Difficult

Platinum – gold tickets

4

Difficult

2-3 Doable

Easy to Moderate

Easy to Moderate

Room Numbers and
timings

4

Easy

3-4 Doable

Easy to Moderate

Moderate

Venn Diagrams

4

Moderate-Difficult

2 Doable

Moderate to Difficult

Easy to Moderate

Quantitative
Aptitude

Geometry &
Mensuration

6

Moderate+

3-4 Doable

1 Easy 2 Medium 3 Difficult

2 Easy 4 Difficult

Numbers

4

Moderate

1 Doable

2 Easy 1 Medium

Moderate to Difficult

Arithmetic

14

Moderate+

8-9 Doable

5 Easy 6 Medium 3 Difficult

Difficult

Algebra

8

Difficult

4-5 Doable

4 Medium 1 Difficult

Moderate to Difficult

Miscellaneous

2

Difficult

1-2 Doable

1 Easy 3 Medium 1 Difficult

Difficult

Key highlights of CAT 2018 Analysis based on the above analysis-:

Slot 1 only presented with a moderately difficult QA section as can be seen from analysis of all four institutes. The difficulty was a few notch higher than that of last years' CAT

Experts from all these institutes opined that VA section was relatively easy in both the slots. RC questions were not a big problem for most candidates and parajumbles were easy to moderate.

LRDI sections was moderately difficult overall as has been rated by the experts.

Overall pattern was very much similar to CAT 2017.

Slot 1 was rated comparatively easier than Slot 2 paper.

Career2NextOrbit’s take on CAT 2018 : Overall difficulty level of CAT 2018 was on the similar lines on that of CAT 2017 except the Quant section due to which the cutoff for 99 percentile will decrease. Talking about the surprises, there weren’t any major surprises just that some of the passages were lengthy in the VARC section and the tricky question and options in QA section gave the test takers, a hard time while LRDI section remained easy to moderate.

In comparison to the last years’ CAT, Verbal section remained on the same level of difficulty as last year also the VA section was easy. LRDI was easier than last year while Quant section was a lot difficult as was expected since the paper was being set by IIM Calcutta. Arithmetic and Geometry dominated the QA section with more number of TITA (Non MCQ) questions were also more this time.

For 99 percentile, the cutoff can be expected between 150-155 marks overall and if we look section wise cutoff, it may be: VA (65+), LRDI (45+) and QA (50+)

Expected GD-WAT Topics

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